I have a drive bell that is stripped out on an Amana LW3503W. My question is in trying to set the drive bell seal with the 293P4 seal tool, I am having no success. Does anyone have any pointers? Am I taking on more than I can handle? Please help... cloths are piling up...

the "drive bell seal" is simply on o-ring under the securing shoulder bolt- if it is the large seal underneath it that has come loose that covers the large nut and collar,you'll need alot more than an airbell. when you say the airbell is stripped,do you mean the inner splines have stripped out? i have never seen this occur

It is the seal that covers the large hex-nut assembly under the drive bell. Yes, the teeth in the drive bell were totally striped out. The drive bell replacement part (Maytag Part# R9900189) came in a kit with the seal included that goes over the large hex-nut assembly. The instructions state you need a seal Tool (Maytag part# 293P4) to apply the seal. I cannot get it to work in seating the seal.

the tool is like a plastic tube with 2 different sized holes at each end,the larger hole is for seating the bottom of the seal-insert the seal into the tool and slide it over the shaft- carefullt tap down on the tool with a peice of 2x4 on edge and a mallet,make sure that the seal starts on straight and continue tapping until the seal is completely seated and then invert the tool and slide the smaller hole over the top of the seal and push it down unitil it begins to seat- when you tighted the new airbell on,it will completely seat the top of the seal.

Thank you for the advice. I will try the 2x4 method before resorting to the TNT method. I have a feeling this job is going to be tougher than I thought it would be... If I could remove the tub to make it easier to get to everything it might not be so bad.

I have hammered until my head is ringing from the sound resonating off of the stainless steel drum.What is that seal used for anyway? Is it necessary? It seems like such a simple fix but is turning out to be anything but... Any recommendations?

With the realization set in that I am going to have to soon get a washer anyway (this Amana is 15+ years old), I just put the new drive bell on the washer without seating the seal(hours of banging and hammering had taken a toil on my head). The washer works fine... for now. The only thing that I can figure the seal to be used for is to protect the metal parts it surrounds from moisture. The old seal was damaged anyway as it spilled out rusty water as it was being removed. Anyone have a brand recommendation for a new washer? Front loader vs. top loader?

Go get a nice front loader. Whirlpool Duet is a nice machine. I think they've finally got all the bugs worked out of the Maytag Neptune. However, both violate Samurai's 5th Law of Appliance Repair (that's a link... did I even need to say that?). The Staber, however, does not.

Thank you for the recommendations. I have read that whirlpool makes a very good product. The Amana is working fine so far... I only know though that it is a matter of time before it bites the bullet. The engineer who designed this thing should be forced to do all of the repairs from those who entered this hellish realm. Those who chose to enter this black pit only to emerge after hours of anguished labor with bloody knuckles, a sore aching back, and mental anguish, not to mention a washer that is still broken... should be kicked in the a_ _ for attempting such an impossible task. Thank you all... this has been a learning experience I just assumed not have learned.

Oasis is made by Whirlpool and uses the F&P design....I have not heard anything about them yet, too new on the market to tell....the Oasis dryer is just a suped up Whirlpool DOTT dryer. Sure looks like an interesting set....